Metamorphosis Misnomer

The Misleading Name-Game

Our purpose here is not to present this evidence of creative intelligence so much as to highlight an example of the biased labels and loaded terms which often appear in evolutionary biology.

Typically, before biology students plod through the eight major
insect orders, their textbook first offers some marvellous features of these winged
creepers. These include the compound eye in many adults, scent hormones that
mark territories and routes, complex social behaviours, antennae that smell or
touch, and, of course, the remarkable workings of insect metamorphosis.

The amazing transformation of a caterpillar, via a pupa, into a majestic butterfly is one of the most dramatic processes in the living world.

The amazing transformation of a caterpillar, via a pupa, into a majestic butterfly
is one of the most dramatic processes in the living world. This and similar processes
in other insects are called metamorphosis, from the Greek meaning “change
of form”. The internal organs of the caterpillar dissolve into a seemingly
amorphous blob, before reforming as the markedly different innards of a radically
different creature—all while the metabolism of life continues in some way!

The instructions for every stage of this entire marvellous process all have to
be encoded in the “program” contained within the egg of the butterfly.
No evolutionist has even come close to describing how such a stunning example
of intelligence programmed into matter could have come about by step-by-step evolution,
all the while maintaining the organism’s viability.

But our purpose here is not to present this evidence of creative intelligence
so much as to highlight an example of the biased labels and loaded terms which
often appear in evolutionary biology.

Students learn that
metamorphosis is divided into two types: “complete” and “incomplete”.
The former includes the radical four-stage progression of egg, larva, pupa and
adult, as found in butterflies. The latter includes the three-stage progression
of egg, nymph and adult (as in the grasshopper), although the nymph-to-adult change
comes in several steps, each larger through moulting, but essentially the same
in form.

“Incomplete” metamorphosis, however,
is anything but incomplete. Since metamorphosis is in fact always a complete,
successful series of events, the term is erroneous and misleading.

So where does this whole idea of incompleteness come from? What does the development
of a grasshopper lack? The entomologist (a biologist who studies insects) would
say it lacks the pupal stage. But can something lack a stage it never needed
nor was ever intended to have? Do not all insects, in their development, also
lack an egg membrane and calcium carbonate shell, or a marsupial pouch, or umbilical
cord? Granted, we don’t think of these things as missing, because they
are unique to other kinds of creatures. And yet insects that undergo three-stage
metamorphosis are of different kinds than those that experience four-stage metamorphosis.
Only when one assumes that these two categories of insects are truly related by
evolutionary common ancestry does one need to suggest incompleteness! In other
words, the term itself only exists because of a prior belief in evolution.

Evolutionary entomologists believe that by virtue of their physical similarities,
all insects must have a common ancestry. As such, the developmental process with
fewer dramatic changes is considered the more “primitive”, deficient
one.

But perhaps the entomologist should consider why alleged
evolutionary “leftovers” are so successful today. So-called “incomplete”
metamorphosis works splendidly. A grasshopper or cricket reaches adulthood
as a complete creature. Its developmental process is a complete one because the
purpose of maturity is achieved.

Furthermore, insects do
not have a “corner” on radical transformation. Metamorphoses also
occur among amphibians and, to varying degrees, in all living things. Even the
rudimentary sponge, for instance, begins life as a free-swimming larva, but matures
as a sessile (non-moving) adult of a different form altogether. Any developmental
process that lacks a stage found in another creature could be regarded as incomplete.
So one might pose the question, “What is the ideal metamorphosis?”
The answer: the ideal metamorphosis is the one that God fashioned for each kind
of creature, insect or otherwise.

Yet, sure enough, the dubious
distinction of “incomplete” is granted not only among insects. The
term also arises when describing flowers. An “incomplete” flower
is one that lacks any of the following: stamens, pistils, sepals or petals. Again,
there is nothing incomplete about the flower, as it still possesses beauty, and
can pollinate with complementary “incomplete” flowers. Within a plant
kind that produces either staminate or pistillate flowers, it is likely that its
flowers have formed this way since the Creation. One also finds suggestions of
“incompleteness”, without the actual use of the term, when an evolutionist
speaks of a monkey “lacking” the advantages of an opposable thumb.

God declared the creation good (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31), and, at its conclusion, regarded it as finished
or complete (Gen. 2:1). Today, the creation is only incomplete on account of what has been
lost (through the Fall, the Flood, and extinction of species), not because of
things never gained (through evolution).

Moreover, if we
must note creation’s deficiencies, which of us is complete? Any man or
woman in an unregenerate state suffers from the ultimate lack: a severed relationship
with God. Even regenerated believers must undergo development. As James put
it (James 1:2–4),
the testing of our faith moves us toward completion of character: perfection,
which Paul reminds us (in Philippians 3:12–14) is never obtained in this life. Saving faith in Jesus Christ,
then, is a prerequisite for man’s ultimate completeness.

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Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus on providing answers to questions about the Bible—particularly the book of Genesis—regarding key issues such as creation, evolution, science, and the age of the earth.